Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - stage 18 (finish), stage 19 (start)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - stage 18 (finish), stage 19 (start)
The Tour has only finished in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne once, and the stage was won by Francaise des Jeux’s Sandy Casar in 2010.
After a hard day in the mountains including the Col de la Colombière and the Col des Saisies, the final climb of the day was the hors categorie Col de la Madeleine, with the finish coming after a long descent and short flat. Casar had been part of the day’s breakaway and went over the top of the Madeleine with his companions Luis Leon Sanchez, Damiano Cunego and Anthony Charteau.
On the descent, the quartet were joined by Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and Christoph Moreau, making for a larger sprint than any of them would have liked. While Contador and Schleck were primarily concerned with making sure they gained time on their rivals, the rest all sensed the chance to grab a stage. Casar boldly led out the sprint, with Sanchez right on his wheel, but neither he nor Cunego could find the kick to round Casar, who took the final left hand bend in the lead to take his third, and what would be his final, Tour stage win (check out the final kilometres from 1:26:45 in the above video). Of course, Casar’s first stage win in 2007 is famous for a completely different reason, namely that he got up after this unfortunate encounter with a dog to recover and take the win.
In total, the Tour has been through Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne three times – the most recent of which was a stage start in 2012, a stage won by David Millar, as it happens – although the Critérium du Dauphiné has vistited more frequently, with the Lars Boom winning the prologue there in 2011.
This time round, stage 18 finishes in the valley town following the descent of the Col du Glandon, the short but punchy climb of Lacets de Montvernier (3.4km at 8.2 per cent) and a fast downhill to the line in what could well be a day for the breakaway ahead of two summit finishes.